Will Bunch

STAFF COLUMNIST

Will Bunch has worked at the Daily News for 20-plus years and is now senior writer. Since 2005, he’s written the uber-opinionated, fair-but-dangerously unbalanced opinion blog "Attytood," covering a range of topics (but mostly politics and the media these days); it’s been named best blog in the state by the Associated Press Managing Editors and best blog in the city by Philadelphia Magazine. He’s also authored three full-length books and three Amazon Kindle Single e-books, including 2015’s The Bern Identity: A Search for Bernie Sanders and the New American Dream. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, he worked at New York Newsday, where he was part of a team that won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting.

You know the drill -- Philadelphia's public schools are facing down a massive $304 million hole going into the school year that starts in September. There's lots of blame to go around but the people who get hurt the most are the truly blameless, the kids.

Plan A for dealing with the crisis was killing off everything that makes a school a school and not a massive chicken-coop-for-children -- you know, sports, art, music, that kind of thing -- and laying off a whopping 3,900 people, which has the bonus effect of destroying the current economy in Philly at the same time it wrecks our future economy (i.e., our youth). Plan B was to fill the hole with money where it could be found in Harrisburg, from within the cash-strapped city, and from union concessions.

It's less money than the schools asked for. The one part of the plan that most Philadelphians were on board with -- the $2-a-pack tax in cigarettes -- was nixed by the Tea Party because that's what they do. The bulk of the money will come out of the pockets of working-class city residents -- in the form of delinquent tax collections (although in fairness, no one actually believes that scheme will work) and mainly through a sales tax, the most regressive, poor-people-hitting tax there is. The bulk of money to keep schools open will come off the backs of teachers and other middle-class school workers, through some combination of pay cuts, layoffs and reduced benefits. Corporations continue to skate through the Corbett years with an unending push to lower their taxes and to continue the generous loopholes that Pennsylvania allow them.

So how do these things -- a plan that puts most of the burden on the working class and virtually none in the corporate board room -- happen? Is it all Corbett's fault? The answer is "yes"...and "no." At the end of the day, Corbett has to answer to his real masters. I have to give some credit to the Inquirer for pulling back the curtain a tad:

David L. Cohen, a Comcast Corp. executive who served as chief of staff to then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s, was involved in the negotiations - it was Cohen who told of the "handshake on the phone" with federal officials.

Cohen said Sunday business leaders as well as Corbett believed union concessions were a critical element if the district was to obtain additional money from taxpayers.

"But that is not to say that either the business community or the governor or anyone else felt we should legislate what those reforms are," Cohen said, adding that he had worked with Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce [and others, including the governor and the mayor].

Whew, I'm glad to hear that Comcast and the Chamber of Commerce didn't legislate this schools deal -- because otherwise, it sure kind of sounds like they did. Cohen is the guy, you'll recall, who had President Obama come to his house for a fundraiser, and then turned around and revealed that he's also raising money for Corbett (and GOP Sen. Pat Toomey). There's no such thing as ideological gridlock when it comes to the 1 Percent and their special interest, money.

Because here's the thing -- I'm actually willing to concede that Cohen, Wonderling, etc., had their "altruistic" motivations for getting involved, in the sense that they realize that the schools crisis is starting to give Philadelphia a proverbial black eye in the national media, and that's not good for business. But once big business gets the spot at the head of the table, they're always going to come up with a "rescue" that pulls the skin off of your hide -- not theirs. Which is exactly what they did here. And the bottom line is always crushing labor unions, which used to be the main bulwark against income inequality, a long time ago on a galaxy far, far away.

It's funny -- I missed the election when the people elected David L. Cohen of Comcast our education czar. When was that, exactly? Meanwhile, while business is running the show, who was representing the rank-and-file parents, teachers and the kids themselves in all of this? In theory, those stakeholders would be represented by their elected officials -- their governor, or their mayor.

David L. Cohen, a Comcast Corp. executive who served as chief of staff to then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s, was involved in the negotiations - it was Cohen who told of the "handshake on the phone" with federal officials. Cohen said Sunday business leaders as well as Corbett believed union concessions were a critical element if the district was to obtain additional money from taxpayers. "But that is not to say that either the business community or the governor or anyone else felt we should legislate what those reforms are," Cohen said, adding that he had worked with Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, as well as with Mayor Nutter, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, the governor, and others on the plan.Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130701_Corbett_reveals_rescue_plan_for_Phila__schol.html#x45ZlXToyUCjZj27.99

David L. Cohen, a Comcast Corp. executive who served as chief of staff to then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s, was involved in the negotiations - it was Cohen who told of the "handshake on the phone" with federal officials. Cohen said Sunday business leaders as well as Corbett believed union concessions were a critical element if the district was to obtain additional money from taxpayers. "But that is not to say that either the business community or the governor or anyone else felt we should legislate what those reforms are," Cohen said, adding that he had worked with Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, as well as with Mayor Nutter, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, the governor, and others on the plan.Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130701_Corbett_reveals_rescue_plan_for_Phila__schol.html#x45ZlXToyUCjZj27.99

David L. Cohen, a Comcast Corp. executive who served as chief of staff to then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s, was involved in the negotiations - it was Cohen who told of the "handshake on the phone" with federal officials. Cohen said Sunday business leaders as well as Corbett believed union concessions were a critical element if the district was to obtain additional money from taxpayers. "But that is not to say that either the business community or the governor or anyone else felt we should legislate what those reforms are," Cohen said, adding that he had worked with Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, as well as with Mayor Nutter, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, the governor, and others on the plan.Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130701_Corbett_reveals_rescue_plan_for_Phila__schol.html#x45ZlXToyUCjZj27.99

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